Royals’ Chris Young Tops Yankees’ Chris Young

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When Yankees outfielder Chris Young was an emerging slugger with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he received letters from fans that included baseball cards they asked him to sign.

On occasion, however, the photo on the front of the card did not look like him.

The player on the card was white, and Young is African-American. The other player was extremely tall, a pitcher, and he did not play for the Diamondbacks.

But he was Chris Young.

“You could tell some people hadn’t done too much research,” Young said with a smile. “There are a few differences.”

While Young was carving out his career, the other Chris Young — the 6-foot-10 pitcher — was also establishing his. For three seasons, when Chris R. Young pitched for the San Diego Padres and Chris B. Young played for the Diamondbacks, they went up against each other regularly in the National League West.

The two players were in the same ballpark again Friday night, as the Kansas City Royals, behind Chris R. Young’s pitching and a late offensive salvo, pummeled the Yankees, 12-1, deepening their offensive funk and extending their losing streak to a season-high four games.

That Chris B. Young, who flied out in the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter, was not in the starting lineup was most likely owing to his record against Chris R. Young — 0 for 16 with eight strikeouts. Then again, the way the Yankees are swinging the bat, that kind of futility would have hardly stood out.

The Yankees have scored six runs in the last four games, suddenly resembling the offense that finished 13th in the league in scoring last year. The Yankees managed five hits, one for each run driven in by Lorenzo Cain, the Royals’ center fielder. Royals third baseman Mike Moustakas just missed hitting for the cycle.

After Chase Headley grounded out to end the sixth, leaving the tying and go-ahead runs at second and third, the Royals broke the game open with six runs against Michael Pineda and the increasingly vulnerable middle relief corps. The Royals added four more in the seventh.

Pineda, who struck out 16 batters Sunday against Baltimore, had one strikeout Friday.

The contrast was most striking in the sixth when, with a runner at third and one out, Pineda allowed back-to-back hits on 1-2 pitches.

It helped seal his first loss of the season and marked one of the rare times over the last two years that he was outpitched. Losing to Chris R. Young was something that might not have been expected until recently.

Young did not sign with the Royals until two weeks into spring training, for a bargain-basement base salary of $675,000, but he could earn as much as $5.325 million if bonuses kick in. That contract was a bet that he could replicate last season, when he was the A.L. comeback player of the year with Seattle, and a hedge against his history of shoulder injuries, which cost him the entire 2013 season.

“It was my only major league opportunity,” Young said. “That’s why I’m here.”

Young said his career stayed afloat because doctors discovered that he had thoracic outlet syndrome and fixed it through surgery two years ago.

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The Yankees' Chris Young was not in the starting lineup against the Royals. He flied out in the eighth inning as a pinch-hitter.CreditGregory Fisher/USA Today Sports, via Reuters

“I was on the verge of retirement if it didn’t get fixed,” he said.

The Royals expected Young to be a long reliever and a spot starter if they needed one. That need came early, first when Yordano Ventura was suspended and then when Jason Vargas was injured. Young is now 3-0 with a 0.94 E.R.A.

“Last year we faced him twice and your mind-set is, ‘O.K., you look at him, he’s got an 88-mile-per-hour fastball and a little slider and throws a changeup; we’re going to kill him,’ ” Royals Manager Ned Yost said. “We ended up getting three hits in both starts. That was always in the back of my mind.”

Yost said that what he appreciates most about Young, who was all-Ivy League in basketball and baseball at Princeton, is his attitude.

“You look at him and he’s a big, tall, gangly, mild-mannered guy,” Yost said. “He’s as far from that as you can imagine.”

For all that separates them, the Youngs have a surprising amount in common.

They grew up in Texas — Chris R. in Dallas, Chris B. in Houston. Both have made the National League All-Star team. And both had brief, forgettable stints with the Mets. Right now, each is playing a key supporting role for a division-leading team in the A.L.

And Chris R. also gets sent the wrong baseball cards.

“I take it as a complement,” he said. “He’s a very good player and a good guy.”

Just as Chris R. has been a boon for the Royals, Chris B., who was picked up last August by the Yankees after the Mets released him, has been a valuable fourth outfielder. He has been a defensive replacement for Carlos Beltran in right field and has batted .288 with six home runs while giving the regulars a rest against left-handed pitchers.

The Yankees, who also were searching for pitching depth last winter, might have seemed interested in having both Chris Youngs, given their predilection for tall pitchers. They have the 6-foot-8 Dellin Betances, the 6-7 Andrew Miller, the 6-7 C. C. Sabathia and the 6-7 Pineda.

But as Yankees Manager Joe Girardi pointed out, Young is a fly-ball pitcher.

“That doesn’t always work so well at our ballpark,” Girardi said.

It might be just as well. If the two Chris Youngs were teammates, it might create far too much confusion — and not just for autograph-seeking fans.

Cain, the Royals’ center fielder, was asked what he has seen in Chris Young this season. He apologized, saying he does not follow other teams very closely.

Then it was politely mentioned that the question was about the Chris Young who was his teammate.

“Oh, you’re talking about our Chris Young,” Cain said with a laugh, slightly embarrassed about the mix-up, but clearly not alone.

INSIDE PITCH

Chase Whitley, who walked off the mound Thursday night with an elbow injury, was found to have a tear in his elbow ligament Friday. He will be examined by the Yankees’ team doctor on Monday to determine whether he will be able to undergo rehabilitation for the injury or require Tommy John surgery. Whitley was placed on the disabled list Friday. ...The Yankees recalled pitcher Jose Ramirez from Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. ... Joe Girardi said that Chris Capuano, who has been rehabilitating a quadriceps injury since spring training, would be added to the roster and would pitch Sunday against the Royals.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D3 of the New York edition with the headline: Chris Young’s Royals Top Chris Young’s Yanks . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe